The Golden Sun is Rising

After the vanguard forces gained an initial advantage.

Heavy transport ships landed one after another on the planet's surface.

With the support of ground fire, Knight Mechs and Tank Clusters were also deployed onto the battlefield.

Engines roared, and massive cannon barrels swiveled back and forth.

Terrifying firepower rained down on enemy target after enemy target.

The surging tide of machines was torn apart by the Imperium's powerful firepower.

They were reduced to wreckage, sparking and spewing black smoke.

Explosions and the intense flashes from illumination flares rose from the ground, illuminating the dim sky.

From orbit, plasma beams, torpedoes, missiles, and pulse lasers continuously descended, bombarding the surface.

Fighters screamed through the sky, churning the rising black smoke into swirling vortexes.

The glow from their engines left bright trails.

The Astartes, with their Gene Engines, were a deadly sharp sword.

They cut through the defenses established by the mechanical tide and captured heavily guarded fortresses.

Horus led the charge on the battlefield, incredibly brave.

Even without a Gene Engine, he was an unstoppable god of war on the battlefield.

With his own strength alone, he could sweep aside enemies.

Heavy weapons couldn't lock onto his movements, while light weapons couldn't harm him.

He was like a primal, savage force, rampaging under the dust-filled sky.

His claws, covered by a Power Field, easily sliced through the machines, reducing them to scrap.

Every swing of the Warhammer in his hand conjured a burst of destructive azure energy out of thin air.

Wherever Horus went, shattered mechanical wreckage lay beneath his feet.

Behind him, he left a path of slaughter burning with flames.

Horus's power quickly drew the enemy's attention.

They dispatched stronger Slaughter Machines to deal with him.

However, a Primarch was unrivaled in the material realm.

No matter how powerful the enemy's opponent, Horus defeated them in the end.

During this process, he received a little help.

A dozen or so ragged humans ran out from a sewer exit.

With their crude weapons, they assisted Horus in destroying a Slaughter Weapon.

"I thought all the humans were locked up in those buildings,"

Horus said, surprised to see the humans helping him.

"It seems you are my compatriots from the stars. I welcome you on behalf of the survivors."

An elder with mechanical prosthetics stepped forward to speak with Horus.

Horus said, "My name is Horus, the beloved son of the Lord of the Human Empire, and his most trusted son."

"We have been ordered to liberate this planet, utterly destroy these mechs, and rebuild human society."

The elder bowed respectfully and then introduced himself.

"My name is Rona, elder of the fugitives. It is a great pleasure to meet you."

"What happened on this planet?" Horus asked. "Why were humans kept in pens?"

"All of this is the evil deed of that Governor. He was once a good person, but he went mad later," Rona said with a heavy tone.

"Elaborate."

Horus looked around. The battle in the vicinity had entered its final stages.

The mechanical army had been routed; annihilating them was only a matter of time.

He had enough time to listen to the story of this world.

Rona did not hide anything. He revealed to Horus the past of Planet Senuus III.

After the Age of Strife descended, the number of wild Psykers and Mutants increased dramatically.

Planet Senuus III fell into chaos, with all sorts of strange events occurring one after another.

To protect his people, the planet's Governor, against all opposition, unsealed the Mech Mother Machine that should have been destroyed.

He uploaded his consciousness to the server, replacing the Mech Mother Machine's AI and becoming the master of the mech army.

Using the mech army, the planet's Governor suppressed the unrest and restored peace to society.

However, the planet's Governor, after uploading his consciousness, was soon corrupted by hidden malicious code and became the Dark Governor.

The human high command, realizing the situation was dire, responded immediately.

Their intention was to purge the planetary governor's self-awareness and format the Mech Mother Machine.

However, the Dark Governor struck back preemptively, launching the Doomsday Judgment War.

It unleashed various extinction-level weapons, reducing the entire world to a wasteland.

Vast numbers of humans met tragic ends, social order collapsed, and civilization was destroyed.

The high command, recognizing humanity's inability to win, chose to overload the climate controllers and destroy the planet's polar magnetic fields, all to prevent the Dark Governor from poisoning other worlds.

This left the world of Planet Senuus III perpetually shrouded in dark clouds and electromagnetic storms.

The Dark Governor, having won the war, found itself trapped on the surface, unable to leave the planet.

Its satellites and space stations, launched into the Void, lost contact due to the interference from the electromagnetic storms and dark clouds.

The trapped Dark Governor harbored immense hatred for humanity.

It continuously dispatched Mechanical Hunters to slaughter the survivors.

Later, it devised a more malicious method of revenge.

Instead of exterminating the surviving humans, it began capturing and caging them.

The captured individuals were placed into Cultivation Pods.

Their mental consciousness was then connected to a virtual world it created, Nightmare Paradise, via telepathic devices.

Nightmare Paradise featured various horror dungeons and survival games.

These caged humans would escape again and again, struggling endlessly within it.

They would find hope in despair, only to fall from the pinnacle of hope into the abyss of despair.

This cycle repeated endlessly.

Until their minds collapsed, turning them into madmen, or until they died.

When the relevant information was uploaded to the fleet, even the Emperor was shocked by such horrific atrocities.

Humanity was treated as expendable batteries, reduced to playthings for entertainment.

From birth to death, their lives were spent within the virtual world.

The Dark Governor was like an omnipotent god, dominating everything.

The Imperium's forces were immensely powerful, and the Mech forces were no match for them.

Magnificent metal cities were reduced to ruins, becoming charred remains spewing black smoke.

The buildings that housed the caged humans, however, were carefully preserved.

The Mechanicus Sages inspected the Cultivation Pods and discovered a thorny problem.

"These people have been living in a virtual world all along. If these devices are destroyed rashly, it might turn them all into imbeciles."

"Only by causing the virtual world to collapse from within, and expelling their mental consciousness, can we ensure they wake up normally."

"I will personally enter this so-called Nightmare Paradise," the Emperor declared. "I will root out the mastermind and mete out punishment."

"Wouldn't that be too dangerous?" Waldo advised.

"No one can match my will."

The Emperor's stance was resolute.

Raven did not try to dissuade him either; he also wanted to broaden his horizons.

He wanted to taste what virtual world fries and ketchup were like.

Dilapidated, rusted hover buses traveled through the mist.

There were twelve people inside the bus, five women and seven men.

They sat in the bus, looking at the mist outside with expressions of fear.

They were players of Nightmare Paradise.

Every so often, they had to participate in the Nightmare Game.

If they failed the game, they would suffer unimaginable torment until the next game.

This life would continue until they became madmen, or died.

The bus moved forward like a phantom, silent except for the hum of its anti-gravity hover engines.

There was no other sound.

Finally, the bus arrived at a seemingly grim, gray town.

The town was lifeless, with dried bloodstains visible on the walls of the houses.

A tall, thin figure wearing a raven mask stood by the town's bus stop, staring intently at the bus.

Its wrists had been severed, replaced by rusty scissors and hooks.

[This game is a small town escape.]

[Under the pursuit of Nightmare, collect train tickets and escape the town.]

The bus doors opened, and the players disembarked in order.

Then, the bus started up again, disappearing into the mist and slowly fading away.

"Welcome, my sweet little snacks."

Nightmare licked its blood-stained hook with its tongue, its eyes gleaming with malice.

The game hadn't started yet, and Nightmare was still restricted, unable to do anything to the players.

But its sinister words and actions still plunged the players into deep fear.

The players knew very well that if they failed the game and fell into its hands, they would wish they were dead.

[The game is about to @#@#!#]

[The game is about to @#@#￥@#]

[Program error, attempting to￥￥￥]

[.]

The game prompts in front of the players turned into garbled text, seemingly having been infiltrated by something.

Just as they were feeling confused, the dim sky was suddenly illuminated.

Under the players' astonished gazes, a golden sun was slowly rising, dispelling the eerie mist.

PS: Heretics daily, praise the Four Gods.

I originally wanted to write a simple story about a rogue AI raising humans.

Then I thought about it, and that kind of plot is quite boring.

It would be better to write about a madman and a group of enslaved players.